Preheat Mold on Gas Stove??

The hot plate Post got me to thinking... I think I will try to preheat my Lee Mold (not a Favorite one) on the gas stove top... Not directly!! I have a Circle of about 3/8 thick aluminum plate, which is the right diameter to Cover the Burner...Thinking a low heat for awhile and once that "plate" is hot...It should preheat the Mold???
Only down side I can come up with is if too much flame is applied to bottom of "plate"??
Am I really loosing it ??? I do sometimes do very stupid stuff, worser than when I was Young!!!

No reason it wouldn't work.
I use a bottom pour pot, and just lay the mold on top of it for awhile during and after it heats up.

As far as being too hot-- there's plenty of Alum. cookware out there that does OK on a gas stove.

I’m with Ed, no reason it won’t work, you’re just using a different form of energy to get the mold hot. The hot plate with electric wont melt the aluminum and don’t think gas would either.IMHO.

Thanks guys...I will try it...maybe later today even...I have set the mold on top of my bottom pour , and it takes quite some time to get hot...I guess I am used to having a Dipper only pot...just stick the mold into the melt...don't take long that way!!!

just put the mold on top of your pot and cover with foil, when the pot is ready so is your mold.

I do it all the time on the gas stove in my house.

Maybe offset the plate just a little to protect the handles from heat rising around the plate.

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Originally Posted by ulav8r

Maybe offset the plate just a little to protect the handles from heat rising around the plate.

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Yup... a shot glass under the handles!! Turns out my "plate" is thicker... like almost an inch!! I started on low heat, takin my time doin other crap.. Started with a Mold I have been experimenting with.. during experimentation, my "target" mold got just about right.. first couple thrown were poor... but, That may be as much Me, as the preheat..had a Hard time getting the "rhythm" but, I got there...just in time to be done with that job, and go back to experimenting!!! I do Not remember having Boolits that far apart in weight.. but... I am encouraged... gotta disregard all that experimenting crap...and get back to casting boolits!!!!
Bottom Line...the preheat method is in fact a success...and I get to use my terribly hated...even despised ...Gas Stove!!! LOL

An electric hot plate should be a lot easier to control temperature. Even better if you have it connected to a PID. I always just set mine on the top of the pot and sometimes dip à corner into the alloy.

It works!!!! If using a camp stove, just be careful if you are casting in freezing temps the hose/regulator will freeze up and jet out propane. Not fun.

I cast on a Coleman stove. I put a saw blade on the left burner to heat my mold and my pot on the right burner. It works very well so far, about 12 years or so. Medium heat on the left burner is about right, but easy enough to play with.
Good Luck to you!
Rick

When I started casting in the 70's and being not very experienced and using a 4# lee pot and a 2 cavity Lyman mold.
I would lay the mold on a buner on the stove to get it hot. Directly in the flame. I couldnlt mess around using a small lead pot.

With pot at maximum to start, it takes about 6 pours to bring molds up to temperature. I dont get the preheating.[smilie=b:

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Originally Posted by 243winxb

With pot at maximum to start, it takes about 6 pours to bring molds up to temperature. I dont get the preheating.[smilie=b:

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I don't like Waste... Howzat?
Cost Nothing to preheat the Lee mold... Oh...Maybe Time. Currently, I gots Lots of That!!!!

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It works!!!! If using a camp stove, just be careful if you are casting in freezing temps the hose/regulator will freeze up and jet out propane. Not fun.

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Many years in the cold using propane I have never seen that happen. Not doubting you at all, just check your equipment, that sounds very dangerous.

I have melted aluminum strips (1.5” wide by .25” thick, several set side by side to put the molds on) set on an 1100 watt coil burner that was a low to medium red, roughly indicating a surface temp between 600-800°C, or 1100-1600°F.

A natural gas flame in open air maxes out around 2000°C, or ~3600°F, though a lot gets dissipated without much heating of whatever is held in the flame. Butane and propane have more BTU’s, but in open air burn around the same flame temp and again a lot of the heat is wasted.

So maybe my melting of aluminum of much less thermal mass isn’t the same situation as your much heavier plate on a gas burner, but it’s still a hot flame, so I might worry about damage, not to the molds, but to the plate.

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